Keith (of Metal Jew) in Ha'aretz on the JCC debate between David Hirsh, Jacqueline Rose and Jonathan Freedland. ("Israel has become the major source of dissensus in the Jewish world, bringing with it real threats to Jewish peoplehood and community. Jews urgently need to find a way to talk to each other on hugely divisive issues without abuse, recrimination, bitterness and hate.") Here's loads more from Engage.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Freedom of expression cannot be sought invidiously in one territory, and ignored in another. For with authorities who claim the secular right to defend divine decree there can be no debate no matter where they are, whereas for the intellectual, tough searching debate is the core of activity, the very stage and setting of what intellectuals without revelation really do... the [campaign against the fatwa] is not really about offence to Islam, but a spur to go on struggling for democracy that has been denied us, and the courage not to stop. Rushdie is the intifada of the imagination." Edward Said

Oliver Kamm had a short essay in the Times at the weekend, attacking, in his usual sharp and well-evidenced way, the propensity of the liberal left to let reactionary attitudes off the hook because of the false notion that the ideals of freedom of speech are eurocentric and because of a false notion that ethnic and religious groups should be protected from offence.

The example of Bernie Grant's response to the Rushdie fatwa, as related in Tony Benn's diaries, is quite shocking:

“Bernie Grant kept interrupting, saying that the whites wanted to impose their values on the world. The House of Commons should not attack other cultures. He didn’t agree with the Muslims in Iran, but he supported their right to live their own lives. Burning books was not a big issue for blacks, he maintained.”

The emphasis is mine, on a statement that is one of the most disgusting I've read recently.

However, as is often the case, I think Kamm over-states his case in conjuring up a monolithic "left". He gives just five examples: Grant, a Danish journalist writing in the Guardian, Baroness Shirley Williams, Ken Livingstone, and Verso Books. Do these examples really sum up "the left"? Livingstone is (or at least has been) a significant figure, but does anyone listen to Shirley Williams these days, let alone Jacob Illborg? And in what sense is the centre-right politician Williams to the left of Christopher Hitchens, who Kamm positions as the voice of reason in debate with her? And how many actually existing left-wingers outside universities really talk about eurocentrism?

On the Rushdie affair, at the heart of his argument, it is of course true that there were left-wing appeasers of the fatwa-ists, informed by a reactionary version of multiculturalist dogma. On the whole, however, the right utterly failed to defend Salman Rushdie - conservatives like Roald Dahl and Immanuel Jakobovits (mentioned by Kamm) were among his attackers, while the Thatcher government made little effort on his behalf.

Who was it that did defend him? Well, sections of the left. On the one hand, there were writers and intellectuals organised by International PEN, including people like, yes, Tariq Ali, Harold Pinter, Edward Said. On the other hand was what we can loosely call the black left: the broad, grassroots, secular and feminist organisations in the postcolonial communities of Britain, groups like Southall Black Sisters and Women Against Fundamentalism.

There is, however, one further strategy [for Jews] which can be canvassed. We should bear in mind that Jews are not friendless, even on the left, and we should try to build on that. There isa distinctsectionof theliberal-left*whichseeswhatishappening, anddoesn't likeit - within the blogosphere, andbeyondthatdomainaswell. Some of these people are heroes, who have themselves been the object of hostility and condemnation for the stance which they've adopted. They don't think that Jews should be singled out for special obloquy for supporting the Jewish state, nor do they see Jews as exercising sinister powers in expressing that support. The anti-racism of these people doesn't make an exception for anti-Semitism; they and their views form the basis for a genuinely universal struggle against discrimination uninfected by the traditional prejudices which are once again crawling out of the shadows. One strategy for Jews is to work with these figures and others like them to revive a universal anti-racism, alongside support for other universal rights and values, as well as more particular ones appropriate for individual situations and commitments.

It might be a bit arcane for some of my readers, but Waterloo Sunset and Contested Terrain (with a couple of contributions from Mike and Mod) had a very interesting debate about nationalism, anti-nationalism and anti-Germanism here. I learnt a lot from it.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Matt at Ignoblus takes up the Indymedia item noted here. He rightly questions my characterisation of the less virulently anti-Zionist poster as "more sensible": more sensible only in a very poor field. He concludes that, in these circles,

to oppose antisemitism is understood as 'coming out' as a Jew. Like a straight guy who won't put up with homophobic jokes. The explanation is that the straight guy is gay. Or the anti-racist who becomes a "nigger-lover." Whether antisemites use the straightforward "Jew" or the more circumspect "Zionazi" doesn't much matter - that dynamic is more important.

On a related note, across the Atlantic, Fiesta Shalom is a cool-looking LA street festival aimed at bridging Latino and Jewish cultures, taking place today. Don PalabraZ reports that Quetzal, "the seminal East Los Angeles band", won’t be there. Apparently, Quetzal gave numerous reasons as to why they felt it obligatory to pull out from performing at Sunday’s Fiesta Shalom including: “Decades of Chican@ solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for Self-determination” and “Decades of solidarity with the non-zionist, non-imperialist peace-loving Jewish community.” Don PalabraZ also posts an mp3 of their song "Intifada".

I think I've linked to this before at LibCom, but Bataille Socialiste have recently published Solidarity's classic 1971 pamphlet, "Third Worldism or Solidarity", sparked by an earlier round of violence in Sri Lanka. (Via entdinglichung.)

"Hey you Zionazi shit. Its not like anyone here visits Austria or intends to visit Austria, or we are going to want to stay in that crummy hotel. Nor we are unaware, the reason you post this is to digress from the fact you are an zioracist apologist for ethnic cleansing and terror. Or that you attempt to defile the Jewish religion, by using it as justification for your racism. Slime back down to the LGF sewer."

A more sensible poster comments:

hey indymedia, this is why no one gives a shit about this site! for the millionth time, anti semitism (or provacteur bullshit like this, which amounts to the same thing and means you are actually probably also doing free pr for israel's foreign policy by letting it be posted)

[antisemitism] does exist, independent of whatever israel does or does not do, existed before israel and is as bad as racism in addition to dumbing down and poisoning the well for any kind of intelligent political debate. THIS IS WHAT WILL ALWAYS HAPPEN unless you take a stance on it, like I assume you would if someone wrote "who cares if a bunch of fag niggers got fired from a hotel". )

EDITORIAL POLICY PLEASE!!!

Sadly, it goes without saying that no moderator has yet removed the racist comments, after four days.

***

Incidentally, for the anarcho-nationalists of Anarkismo, one of the received truths is that Zionism is an imperialist project. Earlier this month marked the 88th anniversary of the Jaffa riots, in which Yosef Haim Brenner was murdered. Point of No Return highlights British imperialist complicity in the anti-Zionist violence.

I worked as a regional campaign manager for the Green Party during the 2000 election, and it disappoints me to see how far the Party has fallen into extremism and paranoia since then. Making the repulsive Cynthia McKinney their presidential pick was the final nail in the coffin, and they seem unable to back away from this woman and her nutty ideas. She continues to write her Alex Jones worthy diatribes on the Green Party's official website, making her words indistinguishable from the organization as a whole.

I can only imagine what some old comrades of mine who happened to stay with the party after 9/11 think of it now.

I can't believe this woman was ever elected to Congress, that the Green Party would want someone like her to represent them. Not to mention that the British Green Left continues to endorse her, when even (should I say even?) Andy Newman can see she's lost the plot. Among other things, by the way, McKinney thinks that Zimbabwe is a "stable democracy"...

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Next week the Brockley Jack Film Club is screening Man on Wire, the very highly rated documentary. Here's the details:

Monday 18 May 2009 at 7.30PM

Man on Wire James Marsh / UK 2008 / 93 min / cert: 12

Winner of the 2009 Oscar for Best Documentary, Man on Wire tells the incredible story of what some observers dubbed as “the artistic crime of the century”. One day in August 1974, after months of preparation, a young man called Philippe Petit attempts to walk on a wire between the New York's twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings.

Edited like a heist film and with a evocative soundtrack by Michael Nyman, the film presents rare and fascinating footage of the actual event together with stylish re-enactments and interviews of Petit and some of the co-conspirators.

“Simply exhilarating.” ***** The Times. Read the full review here .“One of the most beautiful and thrilling documentaries ever made ” The Daily Telegraph

The Film Club always precedes the main feature with a local short. This month, the short will be Voice of the Voiceless, an excellent documentary about the 1970s/80s reggae sound system scene in New Cross and Deptford, featuring two veterans of that scene, Lez Henry and Les Back, as well as archival footage of, I think, Jah Shaka at the Albany Empire. One of the film-makers made the Guca documentary I highlighted here, although this is a much tighter and stronger film.

Those individuals who adopt fill in the blank because they need an identity will be condemned to wander the sectarian and factional hall of mirrors, constantly looking for the perfect group that will give them their desperately needed sense of specialness and superiority. ... People with confused identities are attracted to totalitarian solutions.

And then adds:

The original article filled the blank with "Islam", but as you can see if you throw "Marxism" in there it works just as well.

That's so true! Of course, there's lots of isms we could fill the blank with...

Jeremy Seabrook on the BNP in Labour's working class heartlands. Meanwhile, the BNP violently attack No2EU activists in Carlisle. (Here, incidentally, are who the BNP in Cumbria are.)Gene at HP: Cynthia McKinney descent watch continued.James William Kilgore, the last arrested Symbionese Liberation Army killer has been released. Jogo comments: "Did six years easy prison time for bombs, mayhem and accessory to murder. Sentence shortened for being of the White Race (could join BNP if he wanted to). Defendent made no objection to White Race-induced short sentence. Heh-heh, it's great to be a member of the White Race when you get caught."No Jews Allowed: Anti-German reports on another depressing manifestation of hate in Austria.

Bad photo calls: The photo of Gordon Brown with a swastika is taken in a classroom in Brockley's Prendergast School. It's on the wall in a room where my son goes to an afterschool club, and it kind of disturbs me when I see it there, and now disturbs me even more...

Thursday, May 07, 2009

There is a genuine news story about the right of former Gurkha servicemen to remain in Britain, the politics of immigration controls, and the policies (and hypocrisy) of Labour, Tories and the Liberal Democrats, although sundry news ‘outlets’ have missed it. The story is only interesting to the press insofar as it relates to Gordon Brown and his ‘humiliation’. The Gurkhas are a cypher, a convenient hook — on another day, Brown would be ‘humiliated’ if the government had admitted the Gurkhas without demur.

As Labour and the Tories compete to be perceived as ‘harder’ on immigration, there is a surfeit of humiliation to go around.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

We've mentioned old Stalinist Pete Seeger a few times here. I was brought up on his sweet, clear, warm voice. I sing "Hobo's Lullaby" to my kids, in the version I learnt from him. My son also likes to sing "Shake Sugaree", the song written by Elizabeth Cotton, who cared for Pete's younger half-siblings when they were kids. The Elizabeth Cotton story is amazing: a self-taught genius who only reached an audience when she was over sixty. It was pure coincidence that Cotton found little Peggy Seeger when she was lost in a department store, which led to the Seegers employing her as some kind of housekeeper or maid, after which she rediscovered her childhood passion for guitar and began to record and play live.

Without the Seegers, she would have been unknown to the world of music, and the world in general would be a poorer place for that. But there is also something a little icky, a little colonial, about their patronage of her, with which I am uncomfortable. However, even my heart was melted by this lovely YouTube clip of Elizabeth with Pete, posted yesterday by Paulie, with her telling the story of and singing her classic, "Freight Train".

Saturday, May 02, 2009

Just got around to listening to the mp3 of a prank caller to the BNP, which David Herman linked to in a HP comment thread, found via the Modster. The BNP like to present themselves as shiny new nice people, but they are deeply fascist through and through. This guy, for example, says we are all the slaves of "the Jews", that we might need concentration camps if voluntary repatriation of immigrants doesn't work and that the Holocaust was a hoax. The way I think of the BNP is esoteric/exoteric - all housing concerns and "are you thinking what we're thinking" on the outside, but you don't have to scratch too deep to get to the genocidal conspirationist madness at the core.

2. Norman Geras on the "It doesn't matter if criticism of and attitudes to Israel are anti-Semitic, so long as they are also anti-Zionist" attitude, as expressed by various Guardianistas.

3. David T takes up the theme, describing it as "neverthelessery", and uses it to argue for a re-founding of the anti-racist movement. Extract (some hyperlinks added):

There are some who are prominent within anti-Zionism who are also opponents of anti-semitism. Andy Newman, and even George Galloway, have been fierce in their condemnation of anti-Jewish racism. Yet, when it comes to the crunch, they’re enthusiastic “neverthelessers”. You can’t cheer on Hamas - hand money over to Hamas, even - but either ignore or attempt to explain away their genocidal antisemitism, and still claim to be an anti-racist.

This, incidentally, is why a new anti-racist politics - one that will never, ever tolerate strategic racism - is more vital now, than ever.